Michael Rowton, 76, Expert On Nomadic Tribes In Asia

January 13, 1986|By Kenan Heise.

Michael Rowton, 76, a retired professor at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, was an international expert on nomadic tribes in western Asia during the millennium between 2,000 B.C. and 1,001 B.C. He was particularly concerned with the impact of the ecology and deforestation on their lives.

Services for Mr. Rowton, of Munster, Ind., will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday in St. Paul`s Episcopal Church, 6043 Hohman Ave., Hammond. He died in Munster Community Hospital Thursday.

Mr. Rowton was born in France of British parents. From 1931 to 1939, he worked in Poland for a shipping firm. He was a member of the British skiing team at the 1936 Olympics in Germany. During World War II, he was involved in campaigns in Syria and North Africa. He developed his interest in nomadic tribes while stationed in Nineveh, Iraq.

He received a Ph.D. in oriental history from Belgium`s University of Liege in 1952 and became a research assistant with the Assyrian dictionary project at the Oriental Institute in 1953. He was named assistant professor in 1958, associate professor in 1962 and professor in 1973.

Mr. Rowton wrote a chapter titled ``The Chronology of Ancient Western Asia`` in Volume I of the Cambridge Ancient History series. It is considered to be in the forefront of research in the area.